My heart is full. I am deeply moved and grateful to everyone who attended our 20th Anniversary Reading. Thank you for all the love you showed me, Morgan Paige, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Art At The Cave. There is no way that a reading can remain fun, exciting, enriching, and a safe space for all without the participation of every reader, friend, and listener. I am very blessed.
Here are some photos from the event. If you took photos or video, please send them via printedmattervancouver@gmail.com.
Next I will be putting together packages for our contributors and Kickstarter supporters, having taken the reins from Morgan because she will soon be giving birth. At the reading, Morgan announced that she wants Toni and I to be the child’s Poetry Godmother and Godfather. We are honored to accept.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic emcee Morgan Paige by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Susan Dingle applauds by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Christopher Luna caught mid-gesture by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Ghos tTown Poetry Open Mic co-host (2007-2020) and Printed Matter Vancouver founder Toni Lumbrazo Luna: photograph by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle, Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic host Morgan Paige, and past featured reader Joann Renee Boswell: photograph by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Joe Poulton, Susan Dingle, Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Matthew Eiford-Schroeder by Morgan Paige
Moregan Paige, Christopher Luna, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna
Christopher and Toni kick things off by Morgan Paige
The opening moments of our four-hour anniversary reading captured by co-host Morgan Paige
Tom Kniffin by Morgan Paige
Al Haley by Morgan Paige
Alex Vigue by Morgan Paige
Armin Tolentino by Morgan Paige
Thanks to Morgan for picking up this cake!
Christopher Luna and Leah Jackson, whose Angst Gallery was Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic’s home from 2015-2020 Photo by Morgan Paige
Leah Jackson and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Christopher Luna and Linda McCarty by Morgan Paige
Christopher Luna gestures at someone by Morgan Paige
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic founder Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Christopher Luna with clipboard by Morgan Paige
Eric Fair-Layman (aka Papasquatch) and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Erin Iwata by Morgan Paige
Grace Valentine by Morgan Paige
Jim Martin and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Jim Martin, who has attended Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic since our very first reading in November 2004 receives a warm introduction from Christopher Luna
Joann Renee Boswell by Morgan Paige
Joann Renee Boswell eads her poetry to the crowd by Morgan Paige
Kristin Bulger and Galen by Morgan Paige
Kyle David Congdon reads as Tony Blaine looks on by Morgan Paige
Lori Loranger by Morgan Paige
Lori Loranger by Morgan Paige
Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle shares her poetry
Toni and Christopher by Madilynn Klein
Jim Martin
Armin Tolentino reads a poem
Morgan introduces Christopher by Ian Caton
Joe Poulton, Susan Dingle, Toni and Christopher by Ian Caton
Christopher trying to keep it together as Morgan praises him by Ian Caton
Morgan gestures as Christopher, Linda McCarty, Colin Sandberg, and Laneta Johnson-Meeker look on by Ian Caton
Morgan, Christopher, and Linda by Ian Caton
Poets Laureate Selfie: Armin Tolentino, Christopher Luna, and Susan Dingle
Susan, Toni, and Christopher by Ian Caton
Toni and Christopher by Joann Renee Boswell
Toni and Christopher share a laugh with our Ghost Town Poetry family by Joann Renee Boswell
Christopher Luna founded Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in November 2004. The reading began at Ice Cream Renaissance before moving to Cover to Cover Books, Angst Gallery, and Art At The Cave, where it has taken place since 2022.
On Friday, November 8, Art At The Cave will host a book launch party for Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three, featuring poetry from throughout the twenty-year history of the series. Join us at Art At The Cave from 4-7 to purchase a copy of the new book, edited by Christopher Luna, Morgan Paige, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna, who co-hosted the reading from 2007-2020. The book will cost $20. Commemorative T-shirts and stickers will also be available for sale.
Sticker design by Morgan Paige featuring self portrait by Christopher Luna
Christopher, Toni, and Morgan would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign as well as all the poets who submitted their work. We would also like to express our deep gratitude to Anne John for her generous donation to the campaign as well as for allowing us to hold the open mic in her space every month. We could not think of a more beautiful venue in which to foster community and hear great poetry. We are also grateful to Mel Sanders of Cover to Cover Books and Leah Jackson of Angst Gallery and Niche Wine Bar for making their spaces available to our community for so many years.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has attended Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic over the past two decades. We could not have enjoyed our raucous, three-hour, anti-racist, anti-fascist, pro-science, LGBTQ+ friendly, all ages, and uncensored poetry reading without your consistent embodiment of those principles and your willingness to hold the space for everyone who was brave enough to step to the mic.
Please return to Art At The Cave on November 14 for our 20th Anniversary reading featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle:
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.
Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com). Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry.
Susan Dingle moved from the East End of Long Island, aka ‘Strong Island,” New York, to Washougal at the invitation of her son Jake in 2020, the year after her husband died. Susan’s first chapbook, Parting Gifts, won honorable mention and publication by Local Gems Press, NY in 2020. A second chapbook, In Pilgrim Drag, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.
She is currently in the MFA program at Pacific University, completing her thesis of poems. With Julie Sparling, Susan co-hosts an open mic called Poetry Street PNW at the Camas Library on the 4th Wednesday each month. In March 2024, Susan Dingle was selected as Clark County Poet Laureate (2024-2026.) Following in the footsteps of Armin Tolentino, Gwendolyn Morgan and Christopher Luna, she leads workshops and projects to encourage people of all ages, ethnicities and gender identification to find their voices.
Susan graduated from the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois/Chicago in 1971, with publications including the Ohio Review, Partisan Review and APR. After teaching briefly at Colgate University, she left it all for Hollywood, to write epic poetry about LA and read it on the Merv Griffin Show. Fortunately, she returned to New York and got sober in 1981, performing her LA epic at open mics including the Nuyorican Poets Café in NYC and on Long Island as a one-woman show, The Hollywood Dream-Catcher. Becoming a clinical social worker in 2008 and a preacher in 2017, she is an ardent advocate for the power of poetry as a healing modality. She collaborated with Maggie Bloomfield on Break Out! a two-woman show about recovery, based on their poems. With Robert A. Brown, Susan founded Poetry Street in Riverhead, NY in 2014.
Christopher Luna founded Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in November 2004. The reading began at Ice Cream Renaissance before migrating to Cover to Cover Books, Angst Gallery. The series has called Art At the Cave home since 2022.
Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three Cover Collage Art by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Morgan Paige
On Friday, November 8, Art at the Cave will host a book launch party for Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three, featuring poetry from throughout the twenty year history of the series. Join us at Art At The Cave from 4-7 to purchase a copy of the new book, edited by Christopher Luna, Morgan Paige, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna, who co-hosted the reading from 2007-2020.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.
The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020. Stop by their new location at 900 Washington, Suite 130 Vancouver, WA 98660: https://nichewinebar.com.
UPDATED Statement on Healthy Spaces from Art at the Cave: We want to provide a healthy space to enjoy art. We have been practicing safety precautions such as regular cleaning, social distancing and mask wearing. As a result of the removal of the mask mandate effective March 12, 2022, we will no longer require the wearing of masks. We encourage you to continue to wear a mask if it makes you feel more comfortable, and we will supply masks and hand sanitizer at the door. As social distancing has become a norm, please be mindful some will still need a bit of personal space while inside the gallery.
As we prepare to celebrate 20 years of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in November, Printed Matter Vancouver and Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic emcees Morgan Paige, Christopher Luna, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna are collecting poems for our third anthology. If you have participated in the series, please send two poems that you have read at the open mic to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com for possible inclusion in the book. We are also looking for high-quality photos and brief descriptions of your most memorable experiences at the reading. Deadline is April 1.
The Historic Trust and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founders Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna present an afternoon of family-friendly open mic poetry on the patio at The Howard House in Vancouver, WA. Everyone in the community is invited to share a poem or just listen. We are also proud to present featured readings by two Clark County poets, Joann Renee Boswell and D.C. Klein. Bring a picnic, blanket, or folding chair.
Joann Renee Boswell is a poet, photographer, teacher, director, mystic, mother who lives in Camas, WA with her husband (a Quaker minister) and her three young children. Joann’s first book, Cosmic Pockets (Fernwood Press, 2020), is a full-length collection of poetry and photography. Her chapbook, breath so hungry (The Poetry Box, 2022), is a love letter. Her second full-length collection is a coloring poetry book in collaboration with two illustrators called Meta-Verse! (Fernwood Press, 2023). Joann has been a poetry editor for Untold Volumes and VoiceCatcher. She has been published in CIRQUE, otoliths, VoiceCatcher, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Not a Pipe Publishing, and Soul Forte. You can read more at joannrenee.com.
DC Klein is a poet looking out a window. He has been published in Residual Believers and Body Fluids, among others. His first chapbook Half a Martyr, was self-published in 2021.
Printed Matter Vancouver is a small press focused on Southwest Washington poets founded by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna in 2011. To learn more about their publications, Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, workshops, editing, or coaching, visit printedmattervancouver.com.
Join us for First Friday with The Lunas (Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Angelo Luna) featuring the Vancouver book launch for Christopher Luna’s Voracity (Lightship Press, 2022)
From Birdhouse Books: “It’s a family affair: Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Angelo Luna will be joining us for the return of our First Friday Poetry Series!
Christopher Luna, co-host of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic and co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver, has just released his new poetry collection, VORACITY, from Lightship Press, and will be joined by his wife Toni Lumbrazo Luna, co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver and local poetry powerhouse, and his son Angelo Luna, who co-authored the father-son poetry collection EXCHANGING WISDOM.”
7pm Friday, January 6 Birdhouse Books 1001 Main Street Basement Vancouver, WA 98660
Voracity, featuring poetry and collages by Christopher Luna, is now available from Lightship Press or the author.
“Brutally honest confessional poetry, Christopher Luna’s Voracity conjures a beatific earnestness which transcends pain and suffering through acts of lyrical, life-affirming grace and redemption.” David Madgalene, author of Call Down the Angel
In this revealing poetry collection, Luna invites readers on a candid and intimate journey behind the mask of a public figure as he grapples with identity, body image, and the enormity of his hungers.”
Driven By Hope by Toni Lumbrazo Luna Printed Matter Vancouver, 2019
Driven By Hope is Toni Lumbrazo Luna’s third book of poetry. It contains glimpses into the lives of people she has met throughout her career as a Social Worker and Life/Career Coach. These poems are based on real life and Toni takes them to new places inside her imagination. Perhaps you will see yourself through her eyes. Order Driven By Hope here:
Exchanging Wisdom features poems for and about Christopher’s son Angelo Luna, as well as a few pieces Angelo wrote for Christopher. The earliest poem was written when Angelo was three, and the most recent at age 21. Christopher endeavored to encourage his son to be an autonomous, freethinking individual. Angelo grew to become that and so much more. Taken as a whole, the poems in this collection track the development of Angelo’s personality and the strong bond between father and son.
Christopher Luna is a true heir to the Beat and New York School traditions of candor and grandeur. This collaboration and celebration of life runs on impeccable timing and deep love. As Luna and his son Angelo exchange wisdom they also re-invent the meaning of open verse: these poems crack open the heart and spill the joy of parenthood into the world.
—Lisa Jarnot, author Robert Duncan, the Ambassador from Venus
One day you’re gonna have to…remind me how to believe in the basic goodness of all beings, Christopher Luna tells his son, Angelo, in his latest book, Exchanging Wisdom. More than a collection of father-son poems, Exchanging Wisdom is a record of gratitude. Luna knows that to be a parent is to be both teacher and pupil, vulnerable and responsible. In every poem Luna’s love beams: Like Lone Wolf and Cub we traversed…and you reminded me that magic is real…. These poems contemplate our never-ending wars, sickness, apathy, and art-making through the lens of a deeply reverent father. For some, being a parent, being the adult, is synonymous with having the answers. Luna, a Buddhist poet, community-organizer, and activist, reminds us that questioning is the only way to truth. What are you afraid to find? he wonders. Are these the right questions to ask? In these mind- and heart-opening poems Luna invites us to experience pure joy and wonder again through memory and thankfulness. Once you’ve opened those doors/ you need never do so again, asserts Luna. Once father you cannot go back to your former life. Thankfully for us, Luna never did.
Our thanks to Tom Hogan for inviting us to bring some of the poets from the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic community to Oregon for the Milwaukie Poetry Series at Milwaukie Floral & Garden on October 7. Angelo and Christopher Luna read from their first co-authored book, Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autnomous, published in 2021 by The Poetry Box. They were joined by Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic regular Erin Iwata and Toni Lumbrazo Luna, co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver and former co-host of Ghost Town Poetry.
Angelo Luna reads from Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous
Angelo Luna reads from Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous
Erika Moorman reads in the open mic
Ghost Town Poet Erin Iwata reads to the crowd at the Milwukie Poetry Series
Erin Iwata reads her poetry
Milwaukie Poetry Series host Tom Hogan with featured readers Erin Iwata, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Angelo Luna, and Christopher Luna
Nat Iwata reads his poetry in public for the first time
Tiel Ansari reads in the open mic
Milwaukie Poetry Series founder Tom Hogan with featured Ghost Town Poets Erin Iwata, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Angelo Luna, and Christopher Luna
Milwaukie Poetry Series founder Tom Hogan with featured Ghost Town Poets Erin Iwata, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Angelo Luna, and Christopher Luna
Here is tom Hogan’s announcment for the reading:
Milwaukie Poetry Series First Friday
Featuring Ghost Town Poets and Open Mic
October 7, 2022 at 6:30 PM.
In-person at Milwaukie Floral & Garden or watch on Zoom.
Share poetry! It’s that time of year for First Fridays!
We’re having in-person poetry readings again! Our Friday, October 7 event will conclude the 2022 season First Fridays events. Our First Friday events are co-sponsored by the Milwaukie Poetry Series and St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church.
This event is in person at Milwaukie Floral & Garden, 3306 SE Lake Rd. This is a new location and is approximately a half mile east of downtown Milwaukie on Lake Rd. It will also be a virtual event on Zoom.
Our Featured Readers are members of the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic community. Christopher and Angelo Luna will read from their new book Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous and from other work. Christopher served as the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Washington. The other two featured readers are Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Erin Iwata. The featured readers will read for about 40 minutes, followed by an Open Mic.
Readers for the Open Mic must be in-person and anyone who would like to participate is welcome. If you want to read in the Open Mic, email Tom Hogan at tomhogan2@comcast.net to register. Plan to read 1 or 2 poems. We will have another round of poems if time permits, depending on the number of participants and length of the poems.
Register to watch the event on Zoom at the Milwaukie Poetry Series website, www.milwaukiepoetryseries.com. You will receive a Zoom link prior to the event. The event will be recorded and available for viewing on demand on the Ledding Library YouTube Channel after the event.
Please call Tom Hogan at 503.819.8367 or e-mail him at tomhogan2@comcast.net with any questions about this event or the Series. We hope you can join us. Thank you for participating, please be safe and well.
Sixteen Years: Enriching Milwaukie one poem at a time.
Printed Matter Vancouver is proud to present the debut chapbook from Leah Klass. Recently relocated from Portland to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Leah is a poet, community activist, global connector, and World Peace Fellow. Hers is the first book of poetry Printed Matter Vancouver has published featuring a writer who lives outside of Southwest Washington.
We are pleased to report that you can now purchase Reach Out, Reach In as an ebook. Please note that due to the unconventional formatting of this chapbook it is best read in landscape/horizontal view.
The debut collection of poetry by Leah Klass tells stories of discovering empathy through human connection. Her work is a rallying call to value our everyday interactions with other people. Reach Out, Reach In offers concrete ideas for transforming the world into a warmer, more welcoming place.
Reach Out, Reach In
By Leah Klass
Published by Printed Vancouver
October 25, 2021
Cover Art & Design by Mercer Hanau
Edited by Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Christopher Luna
ASIN: B09K1HRGF6 ISBN-13: 979-8985129106
ADVANCE PRAISE FORREACH OUT, REACH IN
How we are made is how we see, and from the rich mosaic of her background Leah Klass delivers kaleidoscopic poems that will persuade your vision to see this world made strange and precious. This book offers local beginnings, global consciousness, and the courage to use language for what it needs to do: sustain the sovereign self engaged in connecting the private life to the public world. Enter this book troubled, then emerge knowing “there is another way.” — Kim Stafford, author of Singer Come from Afar
I read Reach Out, Reach In straight through and want more. Leah Klass tells to the bone truth in bold narratives and chewable language. She is a thoroughly American woman who gathered new languages and a layered identity living in many countries. “Understand I am global,” she writes, and we do, seeing through her “inherited pattern recognition” a unifying grasp of culture and language that threads through her own evolution from childhood to maturity. These brave poems move with a strong beat, riding on a wide and inclusive heart. They illuminate so much of a woman’s experience through the stages of her life. For Klass, a fierce advocacy for all people developed, rooted in connection and kindness, and in her passion for acts big and small in families and communities that count toward healing the world. — Rae Latham
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Washington, D.C., Leah’s education has included attending diverse public schools and studying abroad. She learned Spanish in the homes of her friends in Falls Church, Virginia. In high school she turned 16 on a secular kibbutz, where she worked on the assembly line in an olive factory and was chased by ostriches. She later waitressed and cleaned houses to help pay for her studies in Anthropology at the University of Virginia which included a year of study abroad in Brazil. She completed a master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland thanks to a Rotary Fellowship in Argentina and Australia.
She spent the first years of her career bringing businesses from different countries together and encouraging friendships between strangers. Market research and report writing were a ticket to long weekends in Chile and high speed taxi rides in Mexico. She has also helped get social services to migrant communities, taught students how to better network and facilitated group discussions for international business people.
Leah’s greatest pleasures are making connections and reaching out to build community. Speaking many languages allows her to communicate with more people. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese and some Hebrew and German. She is committed to valuing intergenerational relationships and amplifying kindness.
After becoming a mother, Leah experienced a great shift in her understanding of the world and felt an overwhelming desire to express her need to build community and to help others find and use their voices. In tandem, she joined a kind and passionate poetry community in Portland, Oregon. With the support of the group, poetry has become a way for her to tell stories and to activate others to go out and do something good.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, & Morgan Paige Featuring Penelope Scambly Schott
7 pm Thursday, November 12 On Zoom
$5 Suggested donation
LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, this month’s reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on November 12 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting. Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less.
If you are willing to donate to support the series, please use Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com) or contact him to make other arrangements. Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.
Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, has provided a home for the reading series since 2015: https://nichewinebar.com
Penelope Scambly Schott is a past recipient of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. She has published a novel and several books of poetry, most recently On Dufur Hill, poems about the cycle of a year in her small wheat-growing town of Dufur, Oregon. Instead of listing residencies and other prizes, Penelope wants you to know that every day she and her white goldendoodle Sophia climb Dufur Hill, where she adds another rock to her cairn. Sophia is also a co-host of the White Dog Poetry Salon, which Penelope and her husband host in Portland, and a co-author of the forthcoming chapbook Sophia and Mister Walter Whitman.
NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, this month’s reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on October 8 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting. Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less.
If you are willing to donate to support the series, please use Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com) or contact him to make other arrangements. Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, & Morgan Paige
Featuring Wil Gibson
7 pm
Thursday, October 8
On Zoom
$5 Suggested donation
LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, has provided a home for us since 2015: https://nichewinebar.com
Wil Gibson currently lives in Humboldt County, California where the trees are big. He has had 5 collections published by kind people, and has been included in a number of anthologies and lit mags both online and in print, such as Marsh Hawk Review, Button Poetry, Midwestern Gothic, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, Cascadia Rising, Collective Unrest, Yellow Chair Review and many more. He has twice been nominated for both a Pushcart and Best of the Net, and currently spearheads the Redwood Poetry Project. You can find links to books and more info at wilgibson.com
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 